Tying up loose ends
by The optimistic lover
Summary: After the big battle, Hermione is still thinking about what needs to be done. What happens when she meets Ron?


**AN: I'm back! Sorry for not posting in a while, I'm working on a fiction press story and it's kind of taking over my mind… **

_It's finally over, no more running, no more hiding, no more fighting_. Hermione thought to herself as she laid in one of the beds at Gryffindor tower. _No one else has to die_. _It's going to be okay, everything has to be okay_. She thought this over and over and over, while looking up at the ceiling. The war was won. The people who stayed for the fight either found an extra bed in one of the common rooms or went into town and disappeared, so they could be home with family.

_Family, I don't even know where mine is! _She thought as she sat up in her bed. Rubbing her temples, she got up and looked at herself in a mirror. Gazing at the profile standing in front of her was odd. The girl there was beaten up, with small bruises and cuts everywhere. Her shirt was ripped at the shoulder and had small holes burnt through it. And she looked scared. Hermione turned away and squeezed her eyes shut. _What do I have to be scared about? He's dead, he can't come after my family, Harry or…_

That's when she knew what was really bothering her. It was he that made her stay awake throughout the early morning. He was the one that was making her worry.

She looked back down at the bed in the corner of the room. All she really wanted to do was sleep. But since her brain was on over drive with "what if" moments, she decided to slip her shoes back on and enter the castle.

After walking through a few of the hallways, she found out that her choice was not that smart. Everything she saw was in a state of disaster. So many walls were shattered, and pictures that were once lively, were torn from the wall and lay in pieces. Rubble and blood stains were everywhere. This sight brought pictures of death back into her mind. This place was the one place in the world where she didn't fell different or weird and now it was almost all gone.

Turning a corner, Hermione walked right into something hard and quickly stumbled back, only to trip on a rock and fall down. Mumbling some sort of sorry, she sits up to see Ron laughing at her.

"It's okay Ron, I'm fine." She grumbled shooting him a deadly look.

"I knew you would be." He said still slightly chuckling at her, but offering a hand never the less. With more force than she expected she was pulled up and stumbled, only this time falling into Ron's arms.

"Well balance is not on someone's side today, is it?" he says while helping her up, but sliding his hands from her elbows' to her hands. Holding them there, for an hour it seemed like, before she finally started to talk again.

"What are you still doing here? I would have thought that you and your family would have gone home to be together." As she talked she slowly started to walk away from Ron and turn the corner.

Refusing to let go of her hand, Ron held on tight and started walking with her into the shattered corridors of Hogwarts. "Yeah, I would have thought so too, but mom didn't want to have to take…" he stopped short.

Realizing a little too late that this was going to be a touchy subject, Hermione just squeezed his hand and kept walking. Not that long after, they came to a halt, having to turn around because of a gaping hole in the floor. Then Ron was able to too get enough strength to talk to Hermione again. "So what were you doing walking around the castle this early anyway?"

"Oh no reason, just thinking." She said sighing and leading Ron down another hallway.

"Thinking, about what? We just won the war! How can your brain still be on overdrive?"

Refusing to look him in the eye, she just sighs and keeps walking. "I still have things I have to do, lose ends that need to be tied up, you know. Just because the war ended doesn't mean that we can just go back to how everything was."

"I don't want it to go back to the way it was." Hermione hears Ron whisper from behind her. She gently turns and faces him.

"What? Why not?"

"Well, first is that we would have to go back to school. Second, Percy would go back to hating the family. And, I don't want to go back to not having you." With this, he took one more step toward and held her cheek in his hand.

His eyes seemed to shine as she leaned in for a kiss.

When their lips met, there were fireworks in Hermione's mind. It was pure bliss as she slid her arm around his shoulders. She felt him wrap his arms waist and pull her closer to him.

After a minute, Hermione pulled back, looked at Ron, then at the ground. Taking a deep breath Hermione says, "I don't know about this Ron." She could tell that he was disappointed and shocked at what she said, but he didn't let go of her. He was going to keep trying.

"What's not to know about?" he asked

"I-I don't want to have to lose you at all." She said stumbling through the word, "If we break up, make a stupid mistake, I don't want to have to risk losing you. I hate to think that if- Ron why are you laughing?" she asked just looking up at him.

He just kissed her forehead a whispered into her hair. "Is that it?"

"Is that – Ron, _please_! There are too many what ifs. I'm not sure how to handle all of them." Angry tears started to fall down her face. Why was he not getting it?

"You don't have to handle them alone Hermione." He said wiping the tears away with his thumb. "_If_ anything was to happen, and I think that chance is _very _slim, then we go back to being friends. And believe me I will try to do anything to get you back, because you are worth it."

"But-"

"Hermione, stop it. There are no ifs to this. Anymore questions?"

"What about my parents? I have to leave to find them and I don't know how-"

"I'll help and come with you. You don't have to do anything alone. Anything else?"

"Um…"

"See all lose ends are tied."

"Almost," Hermione said with a warm smiled and then leaned up to kiss Ron again.

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